Notes for the Early Ceiling Mounted A/C system

[jlrftype7]

I saw a couple of threads on these systems, but the pictures were not coming up with the posts, so I added to the Gallery a few pictures that I took yesterday while I dropped my complete Ceiling system to service the noisy Blower Motor and check things over.

1984 Tin Top, with PO retrofitted R134a Freon/fittings at the compressor.
Issues[ 1] Blower motor made a terrible noise of both dry bearings and the cages hitting or rubbing as well once the system was running.
[2], Compressor is noisy, but that's a separate issue, and I only had time to work on the Interior first....

AS others have noted, be gentle, the plastic on these housings is cracking with age and vibration, so removing and installing them can be a delicate process. Tools needed: #2 Phillips Screwdriver, I don't recommend a power tool/impact for the screws, esp. when reinstalling them since in many cases overdriving the screw will give you new damaged plastic or a full break through in the housing.
13mm socket/ratchet... I did use a Cordless Impact for the two 8mm bolts on the drivers side, they are a metal to metal connection.
Way of supporting the main evaporator housing while still mounted, and while off the ceiling- I used a Stanley Saw Horse that's adjustable in height and a tool called a 3rd Hand, it's basically a support jack for cabinet installs
Take pictures, have some oil for your motor bearings on hand, you'll need some type of Tape to reinstall the Evap Temp Sensing Tube back into the Evap itself since it's doubtful that the original tape on top of the whole housing which sealed the VERY long tube will working again once you removed it.

Remove the Tunnel section between the main Evap housing and the front Duct work, or remove the White Upper Cover on the Drivers Side that hides the hoses and electrical woring[ Your Choice, they ALL have to come down.... ]
Once you've removed both of them, you're looking at two 13mm headed bolts[ 8mm bolts] on the drivers side, that go through a metal bracket of the Evap Housing and into the Body. These two bolts are also GROUND for the Blower Motor. If you have rust here, or loose connections, you have no or intermittent ground for the circuit- more on that later.
There is a single screw over by the Upper Sliding Door track, going vertical though the track, the passenger side of the EVAP housing, and into the body.
LEAVE all 3 fasteners alone for now, and remove the Front Section Ductwork, which has 5 screws, 2 per side near the Vent Windows, and 1 more behind the Rear View Mirror, which in my case was doing nothing since the plastic had broken away from that 5th screw....
You should be able to gently lay the whole front section down on the front seats, Added whatever cushion or protection you want on the seats, I have Vinyl, so they're pretty tough...
Be careful with the metal Temp tube, it should allow you to flex the Ductwork down to the front seats, as it's longer than needed for the mounting position and flexible to a certain extent. The other end of it is still mounting against the ceiling on top of the Evap housing, so don't go crazy with movement....
There is a flimsy upper piece of plastic that is the '4'th side of the Tunnel section that you removed earlier, it sits against the ceiling/headliner and the system relies on Double Stick Tape to make a sealing bond from the upper piece to the Tunnel, and also back in the Top of the Evap Housing in several places. Fighting the double stick tape takes some time, be gently prying all plastic pieces apart since anything you break, you get to fix. A leak here is a leak of Cold Air that doesn't make it to your vents like VW hoped it would.

Now we're ready to remove the Main, heavy housing since the Evap and Blower are the real weight of this system. Gently pull the 2 EVAP drain hoses out of the B Pillar, removing the grommet that they go through . If it's in decent shape, might as well reuse the grommet on reinstallation.
You either need help here ,or a good system of supporting the housing.
Remove the passenger side single screw, now remove the two 8 mm bolts that are going through the metal support bracket on the Drivers side.
The Upper sliding track will hold the Passenger side up for you, the housing isn't going to fall all at once on you, but you'll need to lower the Drivers Side, avoid or remove the white round hanger knob[ I left mine on] and then with FULLY supporting the Housing, slide the Right side away from the Upper Sliding Door track and out from that same area. At this point, if the metal brackets cleared on the drivers side, you can lower the housing.
The A/C hoses and wiring will easily flex with you, but I had the housing up in the air about 33 inches , on my Saw Horse, I WOULD NOT recommend trying to put the housing on the Cargo floor.

Time for some pictures.....

_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jlrftype7]

Back view with the center Tunnel Removed. All the stuff in the way of your Cold Air has to sit in the front section of the Evap Housing and the Ductwork Tunnel. Not a huge restriction, but not how a modern vehicle would get the job done these days....

_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jlrftype7]

Drivers Side Metal Brackets and Mounting Bolts- Ground through them.....

_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jlrftype7]

Ground wire from Blower, on top of that same metal bracket. Either way, a loose connection here and you're suffering with Blower issues..There is a maching screw and nut that hold the eyelet to the bracket, I removed them to inspect the eyelet fully, then reinstalled them so I could test the blower once I ran a jumper wire from the eyelet over to a bolt that I'd loosely installed on the Driver Side.

_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jlrftype7]

EVAP housing supported on that Saw Horse. This allowed me to take the upper section of the housing apart and access the blower motor, inspect the drain tubes[ one broke at the black plastic fitting coming off the drain pan... ] It was safe enough to leave in place while I went to the Hardware Store for repair supplies.

_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jlrftype7]

Drain Tube, White plastic that was still pliable. They run down the B pillars, through rubber grommets at both the entry hole and the exit hole out of the body. You'll need to pull them up a good bit out of the B pillar to lower the EVAP housing when working on it. I replaced the Passenger side while repairing the broken drain pan fitting with plastic epoxy and 3M Strip Caulk

_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jlrftype7]

Screws go through the White Outer housing and into the inner black plastic sections, I had some speed clips to lock my screws tight, but two smaller and shorter screws in the front of the housing, above where the Tunnel would go, didn't have room for metal speed clips, so none were installed there by the VW Dealer whenever my system was first put in.
More Double Stick tape glues the 'roof' of the Evap housing to the main section to seal it tight. You'll need to gently remove the Temp Sensing Tube from the Evaporator, lifting upward once you've removed all the tape holding it in place. WIth the tube remove, you may still have a sticker showing the Hole Location for the Tube and how far VW wanted it inserted into the Evaporator. Mine was NOT the 5" inches the stick called for.... maybe about 3 inches or so....
Hiding underneath the 'Roof' is your blower motor housing, and behind it, the long Evaporator.

_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[jlrftype7]

At this point I'm out of pictures since I stopped taking them....
My blower had slightly dry bearings, but its biggest issue was two fold.
The cheap mounting of the blower to the inner housing had worked loose. SO, the motor was laying down a bit in the cage housings of the Squirrel Cage section . AND, the cages were no longer centered inside each of their housings as well.
I used 2 Rawtek Screws to drive through an ear of the Blower Motor mounting bracket, that looked like it was plastic welded and had come loose. There were already holes in the bracket, so I was going through the motor and into the plastic section that the motor mounts to in order to lift it back up to a center line inside the Squirrel Cages, if that makes any sense[ I know , good time for some pictures]
Once I got that done, it was time to gently tap on the blower cages to move them away from the motor or toward it as need to center each cage inside its housing. They are barely attached to the motor shaft with any tension , relying instead on a kind of spring at the outer side of the cage to put pressure on the cage and shaft connection.
Made it easy to adjust, but one can see how the cages were able to walk a bit on their own with time and usage, so I hope it doesn't happen again.
Once all THAT was done, it was time to add the jumper wire from the Drivers B pillar to the motor ground, and run the Van to check my blower motor under power since spinning it by hand seemed okay.
Sure enough all was well and quiet with the blower again, time to put the whole thing back together once I repaired the broken drain pan fitting....
Ace Plastic Epoxy repair. waited 90 minutes before even thinking about pushing the new plastic drain tube onto the fitting/nipple. I added a 'brace' of 3M strip caulk around the outside of the nipple to help support it from this point onward.
Added Strip Caulk as needed where the 'Roof' didn't want to lay flat against the Double Stick Tape anymore, and reinstalled the whole assembly in reverse order of my post.
I'll work on the Compressor later next month.....
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[Pippo]

Where is the compressor located for this kind of unit?

[Kdj]

It’s in the back on engine like any system of that vintage. I just picked up a complete system for a good price and am hoping to go 12v compressor. But it will be an undertaking. First I need to make it fit a westy configuration, then convert to modern refrigerant, then decide 12v or engine drive compressor. Got to have dreams

[vanis13]

IF interested/helpful - I'm working on a high modern system to work in these so feel free to reach out to discuss. I'll do a general post when I have it all figured out.

Keep in mind the evaporator on the early system is like 1/2 the volume of the later evaporators.
_________________
83.5 Westy with Subaru 2.5, 4 spd manual, center seat, COLD A/C on 134a!, Winter camp heated with an Espar B4 gasoline furnace

www.SuperVanagon.com - some stuff I make